Can You Keep a Secret?
by Alias Erotavlas
Summary: Coraline and her family get stuck at Whammy's during a storm and Coraline gets bored. Isn't there a live person in this place? She'd talk to anyone right about now. Oneshot.


Can you keep a secret?

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Coraline jumped down the last several steps of the second staircase. Did the stairs ever end in this place? She looked around the corner. More stairs. She should've brought her adventure hat. Sighing, the girl made her way down the third(and hopefully final) set of stairs. She hit the floorboards with a resounding thump. Nothing. Were these people all zombies? This was an orphanage, right? So where were the screaming children? Where were the thumps of feet on floor? And what about the people running the place. It was huge to say the least and so far the only worker she'd met was the old man at the front door.

All of it was just unnatural.

Almost as unnatural as her other adventure. The Beldam's face came to mind, but Coraline pushed it back. There was no point in remembering that nightmare.

She continued her stroll down the hallway. Occasionally, she would make a loud noise of some sort. Nothing. Maybe they really were zombies.

If that were true, then she'd need to prepare. A slingshot, food, and a safe place to hide. Well, she had some candy from the kitchen in her pockets. She looked around for a room where she could find her weapon.

GAME ROOM. The most glorious all capital words Coraline had ever seen.

She slipped inside and shut the door behind her. She turned around to search for a slingshot, but froze. The Television was on. Someone was there.

Or something.

Coraline considered turning around and finding a better weapon somewhere else. But what if someone human was there? What if they needed help?

She slowly crept closer to the large leather couch. She slid around the back of the couch and ducked under the end table beside it. Slowly, ever so slowly, she looked out from under the table. There, sitting on the couch was...

A human.

She let out an involuntary sigh of relief. A normal human.

"You know, it's considered rude to hide from people," they said, startling the hidden girl.

Maybe, they weren't normal, then.

They put the game on pause and turned full towards her, "Well?"

Coraline pushed herself out from under the table. She stood and brushed herself off before turning fully towards them, "Well what?"

"Well," the boy turned and resumed his game, "I was waiting for you to come out from under there. Now you have."

"And?" Coraline sat down on the couch leaving a bit of space between them.

"And..." the boy turned his head towards her slightly, "You have weird hair."

She didn't know what to say to that. She stuttered for a few seconds before collecting her thoughts, "Well, you do too. I mean who has hair that color? Your head looks like an apple." She huffed and turned away.

"Hm, I'd rather be an apple than a blueberry," he smirked. Coraline stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, at least I don't look like a beetle, Goggle Boy," She retorted.

"Whatever you say, Freckles," 'Goggle Boy' said, not turning away from his video game.

"My name is Coraline, not Freckles" she said, fists clenched in indignation.

"And my name is Matt, not Goggle boy," he offered her one of his hands, playing his game with the other. He didn't even turn away from the screen.

Coraline just turned away from the hand, arms crossed over her chest.

"You're supposed to shake it," Matt said, hand still out. Absently, Coraline wondered how he was even managing to play the game with one hand.

"Funny, I was under the impression that people had to look at one another to shake hands," the young girl said, arms still crossed.

Matt sighed and paused the game. Then he turned to Coraline, "Happy?" He held out his hand, his head tilted to the side.

"Very," Coraline shook his hand. Matt turned back to his game. Coraline watched him play for a few minutes in silence.

It was boring, to say the least.

"Is this all you do?" she asked.

He didn't look at her, "Pretty much."

Coraline's brow furrowed, "But this place is huge. I'm sure there's something you can do," she braced her hands against the couch and leaned towards him, "I mean, where's your sense of adventure?"

"If you know of good any adventures out there," his game flashed GAME OVER and he turned towards her, "I'd be more than happy to hear them."

Coraline sat back, thinking. Should she tell him? It wasn't like he'd believe her. Her parents sure hadn't. But then again, they weren't kids.

She sighed and leaned back towards him, "Can you keep a secret?"

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**A/N: Greetings! I know that I should be working on my other stories, but this little one-shot came to me last night at about 11:00 and I had to write it out. I thought it was kinda fun to write. Anyway, my other stories should be updated soon...maybe. I really can't pin down a date.**

**Adios,**

**Alias E.**


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